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Secrets of the Hekate
The facade : Main article: Hekate Hekate candidates are officially said to have been chosen at birth. Taken from their birth family and offered an elite place within House Lyra, tied to the After in blood and birthright. Trained at the Hekate school at Dún Ailinne to be the perfect Idol. However, a limited few in house Lyra know the true nature of the Hekate in Lyran service... Hekate, The After Made Here The Hekate are the blending of the ultimate forms of Lyran self expression and experimentation; the secrets Lyran hide in plain sight at all times. From birth, they are trained to become the prime example of their art form, be it song, dance, painting, sculpting, acting, and more. They began as an experiment, a method of creating art with a mind of its own and art that could become a weapon, only to be lost due to the Scream. Expeditions would go on to recover the lost pretech and the tireless efforts of Lyrans would go on to recreate the ambitious program, now calling upon the power of the “After” to form new beings. Today, they are the voice of Lyran propaganda. Their art is their own, but the message will remain the same: For the good of the Empire… and the After. The First Hekate Records of the first Hekate exist in stories, legends of the time before the Scream. Pandora, the first of her kind, was once a great being. Her word reached the entire sector, her name knew to all. There were others in her time, but she was eternal, untouchable, and beloved. Alas, records of her appearance and her true origin are gone. All that remains are lyrics. The Scream wiped out the earliest of Hekate, leaving their tech and foci beyond. Rumors of some ancient Hekate trapped within foci exist, but the lost tombs of Orpheus keep them as such. Searching the ruins of the Necropolis, Tehuti explorers stumbled upon the lost tech required for Hekate creation. Foci of the lost led to limited documentation being found and a subtle push from the Shadow Council was all it took for Lyran society to begin its push to recreate the idols of old. The initial products were unstable, but refinements led to early beings coming from the psionic energy. Carmen was the name given to the first being to attain a mind of its own, to choose a physical form. Her success led to others and the first batch of Hekate were born.. Carmen, and those who immediately followed, showed House Lyra both the potential growth and immense danger of the Hekate program. Hekate could manifest with ease while on Orpheus, given they could tap into the power of the ‘battery’ system provided by the technology that created them. However, leaving the planet proved impossible without a steady supply of power. This led to the Meret Management program, which paired Hekate with MES-inflicted Merets who would provide security, management, cover, and, most importantly, psionic power via a psychic tether. The Meret in question would be lauded by the House at a heavy cost. Hekate who expressed their art would release a blissfully addictive and potentially deadly feedback to the Meret. Today, Merets in the program are heavily trained and many work to minimize the risk of Hekate feedback. Feedback strength varies from Hekate, but the risks remain the same. Addiction is inevitable. Death is always likely. Modern Hekate Modern Hekate are formed with relative ease. Upon creation, the Hekate assigns itself a name and is taken to Dún Ailinne, a hidden university, meant specifically for Hekate and the future Meret partners. Hekate are given general education, focused work in their chosen art style, and intense training in psionic arts specific to Hekate. Additionally, all Hekate are given intense indoctrination to ensure their focus remains on their core message. Always the Empire. Always the After. At 14, young Hekate enters their Coming of Age ceremony. In addition to their mask creation, a Hekate enters its first bonding ceremony with a Meret. Successful pairs begin immediate work together, taking classes as a pair to increase their bond and address feedback concerns. It is at this time that Hekate work intensifies as they prepare for their debut in the coming years. There are also rumors concerning particularly successful Hekate partaking in unique forms of training linked to fighting. None of this is sanctioned by House Lyra and rumors remain as such. Hekate in society are treated as nobles. They have private homes, serfs, and assets. Much of their finances are managed by their closest Meret managers, allowing them time to focus on their public appearances and projects. Should a Hekate require sleep or be hidden away, they are stored within a focus by their Meret. This process keeps the Hekate safe and their energy saved safely. The focus does come at a large risk though. Normally, Hekate death comes as they run out of energy to sustain their form. However, should a stored Hekate’s focus be destroyed, the Hekate is immediately lost regardless of their energy. House Lyra must then consider whether to admit the Hekate’s death… or create a new one to assume the identity. Hekate remain a hot topic within Lyran society, with their status as something more than tools of the House being acknowledged.. Work also continues to find ways to understand their potential and learn how to recreate the sheer power that was once Pandora. In the end, Hekate will remain an integral part of Lyran society. Their work carries the message of the Empire and spreads the will of the After. Merets & Tethering To maintain their existence while off planet, Hekate require a steady source of psionic energy. While any person inflicted by MES can provide this energy, House Lyra has created a program to train those with the title of Meret in a safe process of providing both energy and companionship to Hekate. A Meret in this program can still work towards their personal endeavours, but is capable of joining a Hekate’s entourage. Those who wish to partake in this training are accepted into Dún Ailinne, where a unique course load awaits them. Generally, all Merets who pass the program and taught how to form a basic tether. These tethers are enough to provide a Hekate with enough energy to survive while placing the Meret at minimal risk. A tether must be formed by a consensual agreement. Either party may reject or break it at any time. Feedback received by these tethers is minimized, but the transfer of energy is affected similarly. Among the ranks of these Merets are a select few who are capable of acting as Hekate managers. These elite members of the Dún Ailinne class are tasked with bonding specific Hekate, creating a much stronger and more dangerous ‘perfect’ tether. A Hekate and Meret assigned to each other partake in a ceremony to test their potential bond. This also acts as a Hekate’s “Coming of Age” ceremony. Those who succeed enter the next phase of their training, taking classes together, living together, and preparing for their careers as a team. Those who fail are still accepted as adults, but with the added hardship of finding appropriate management or assistance until a true bond can be formed. "Perfect" tethers are much more powerful, carrying the risk of full feedback in exchange for unlocking a Hekate’s full potential. They can be supplemented with simply tethers to alleviate the strain, but remain necessary for any performance away from Orpheus’ protection. A Meret must be careful to not drain all of their mental capabilities or enter a dreaded “Torching” state. Hekate often become overly attached to their partner(s), treating them as one would a significant other or, at worst, personal property. The bond must be carefully maintained. Each being involved leaves a shard of their very being behind when a tether becomes strong enough. It is intimate. It is personal. It can be deadly. But it can unlock potential in all parties involved. Bonding Ceremony The Bonding Ceremony, which acts as the final test for Merets and the Coming of Age ceremony for Hekate, is a sacred act. Failure to treat it with the utmost respect is grounds for extreme punishment, or at least it should. The ceremony acts different for every being involved. However, a few constants remain. Those involved sit closely to one another, opening their very souls to the other(s). Should the resulting process end in all parties accepting the bond, the ceremony can be considered a success. Any resistance or outright rejection will result in a failure. While many failures end in simple disappointment, some have resulted in more dangerous outcomes. As such, at least one skilled Lyran Neshmet is required at all Bonding Ceremony events in case medical attention is required. The Pre-tech Hekate Battery Hekate are formed via the use of a pre-tech item currently referred to as a Battery. The true name has been lost to the effects of the Scream, though rumors of the truth being buried away by the storm still persist. Originally, these batteries were used to create beings of sentient, weaponized art. They were a final line of defense on Orpheus, meant to protect what was someday meant to be a perfect paradise for art and free thought. The Scream destroyed that, silencing that hope, seemingly wiping out all Hekate in the open, and damaging both those in foci and the batteries. Post-Scream, Hekate were treated as tools for creation. The cult considered it reaching into the After and giving it form. Hekate became tools for propaganda and the will of the Shadow Council. However, House Lyra has no record of how the batteries actually work. As of now it is known that when a Hekate’s form Here is completely gone, another one can be created from the same battery, using the template of the fallen Hekate or creating a completely new one. They are considered a new being by the House. The newly created Hekate initially has no connection to what has been created from the battery in the past. No memories are inherited. The original intention was to allow the living art to flourish under its own conditions. They would know their purpose in protecting and creating, but have the ability to act freely while on the planet. In a perversion of this purpose, House Lyra’s cult has used this fact to carefully craft Hekate as needing, invading this once pure process. Should a Hekate wish to examine their mind, there exists a process similar to the Meret bonding ceremony in which the Hekate may “bond” with its battery. The loop of connecting with one’s self allows the Hekate to truly confront what they are, all of their subconscious thoughts given a form in the mindspace of its creation. The process is rarely done and considered extremely risky. Failure in the past has led to death, formation of a completely new Hekate, and complete mental breakdown. But a Hekate is replaceable, right? The Shadow Council views them as tools. Success has the chance to lead to a more powerful bond with one self, the comfort of understanding, and more. The subconscious form of a Hekate is a terrifying being, capable of easily twisting the Hekate with its most base desires and wishes. However, it will not wish itself direct harm. Rejection of the self leads to death, but failure to resist is what often has led to reformation. These actions have come as a direct response to House Lyra’s manipulation of the Hekate and the innate desire to return to an original state of being as a sign of rebellion. Hekate are often the most strongly indoctrinated members of House Lyra, but art will always want to be free on some level. What is unknown to House Lyra, and even most Hekate, is that a battery that has been used multiple times will carry some lingering traces of the Hekate that have fallen in the past. Failure to maintain the batteries to a pre-scream standard and the hasty nature of House Lyra to simply recycle a Hekate it does not like have resulted in a distorted state for some Hekate. And should one confront a subconscious self, a Hekate may find something ready to address their past selves, sometimes by force. Category:House Lyra